Some have tried to portray Joe Cole as Liverpool's new deity but Anfield has discovered he is unmistakably human. Fresh from collecting the inaugural red card of his career on Sunday, Liverpool's marquee summer signing took and missed his first professional penalty last night as Roy Hodgson's side gained a slender advantage over Trabzonspor. Given Cole's current torment on home soil, next week's hostile trip to the Black Sea coast may seem a release.

Defiant away displays helped Hodgson take Fulham to the Europa League final last season and another will be necessary to retain hope of a repeat with Liverpool this time out. This play-off first leg was not entirely bleak for Cole, as he created Ryan Babel's winner, but the failure to make amends for the weekend dismissal against Arsenal will linger with the England international unless or until Liverpool secure their passage into the group stage.

Hodgson, who will be without the suspended Cole in the Premier League until 19 September, said: "It's been a bad week for him and after the second leg it will be even worse because he will be sitting on his backside for a while. I think we probably deserved more but can only blame ourselves. We missed a penalty and if do that you can't blame anyone else. With the second-half performance we deserved a second goal, which would have made the trip to Turkey more comfortable. Now it won't be comfortable at all."

Trabzonspor qualified for this competition by beating Fenerbahce in the Turkish Cup last season and lifted the Turkish Super Cup only last month. They were dangerous opponents, albeit vulnerable whenever Liverpool attacked incisively and with pace, although that was a rarity in the first half as a reshuffled home side understandably struggled to gel. Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel, David Ngog and Dirk Kuyt, plus the injured Javier Mascherano and Daniel Agger, were all absent from the side that started against Arsenal as Hodgson rotated with an eye on Monday's trip to Manchester City. In the absence of Gerrard it was decided before kick-off that Cole would assume penalty-taking duties for the first time since he was 13.

The new Liverpool manager has not departed radically from Rafael Benítez's tactics in his four matches in charge but, unlike his predecessor, he did give Babel a rare opportunity in attack. His faith, or experiment, was rewarded on the stroke of half-time as Cole inspired an incisive counter-attack, spinning into space and releasing the Dutch international with a well-timed pass that was dispatched calmly beyond Onur Kivrak into the far corner.

Babel failed to reappear for the second half but his replacement gave Anfield no reason to dwell on the reasons why. It was, Hodgson later revealed, pre-arranged that he would play only 45 minutes. The introduction of Fernando Torres lifted the crowd and Liverpool's performance in tandem. Trabzonspor, like many before them, appeared visibly unnerved by the marauding Spaniard, and his impatience after so long on the periphery through injury was apparent immediately.

Torres tested Kivrak with his first touch, a powerful, angled drive, forced another good save with a towering header and helped Liverpool win a penalty in the 51st minute. Serkan Balci, the visiting right-back, got a toe in the way of Torres' run into the penalty area but over-reached for the loose ball and tripped Lucas as the Brazilian darted into the box.

Cole, described as "a God" in Liverpool by Jamie Carragher this week, was urged to take the spot-kick but shot too close to the Trabzonspor goalkeeper and saw his effort saved. "The last penalty I took was when I was about 13 – and I scored that one," said Cole. "It was a bad one and I hold my hands up for that."

José Reina got his costly mistake against Arsenal out of the system when he denied Umut Bulut a precious away goal with the Trabzonspor captain unmarked in the area. The visitors continued to threaten but Liverpool believed they should have had a second when Sotirios Kyrgiakos headed Milan Jovanovic's corner goalwards, Cole flicked on and Christian Poulsen converted on the goal-line after Kivrak fumbled.

Sadly for the Danish debutant, a close offside call spoiled his moment of glory and left Liverpool's place in Europe in the balance.